'Saint of 9/11': The Documentary

New York -- While most of the Tribeca Film Festival buzz has been about the film "United 93," we look forward to "Saint of 9/11," a loving tribute to Fire Department Chaplain Mychal Judge, the Franciscan priest who touched so many lives. The festival is to debut the film May 1, repeat it Thursday, 1:30, and again Friday, at 6 p.m. "Father Mike," as many knew him, was the son of Irish immigrants and a recovering alcoholic who ministered to a broad swathe of New Yorkers, including its police, firefighters, and other members of the city's working class . Homosexual himself, a fact unknown -- and probably irrelevant -- to many he helped during his life, he openly served New York's gay community, as well as those New Yorkers suffering from AIDS. He lost his life giving the last rites to a fallen firefighter on 9/11. Author and raconteur Malachy McCourt and former New York City Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen are among those interviewed in the film. (In the picture left, Judge poses with members of the Fire Department of New York's Emerald Society Pipe Band.)

'Whisht' -- Help for Raising Your Kids With Irish

CUNY's Institute for Irish-American Studies at Lehman College has announced a new website for parents who are raising their children through the medium of the Irish language. The Center for Irish Language Acquisition, directed by Professor Tomás Ó h-Íde, established the site. More information is available at http://www.paistilegaeilge.com/.

Happy 75th Birthday to the Empire State Building

By the way, we highly recommend you celebrate the anniversary of the skyscraper's May 1, 1931, opening by reading Thomas Kelly's suspenseful novel, "Empire Rising," set against the landmark's 14 months of construction. The book, a real page-turner by its final 100 pages, is populated with such characters as Mayor Jimmy Walker, former New York Governor Al Smith, menacing Mafiosi, Irish gangsters, and a pair of finely wrought Cavan immigrants poignantly struggling to survive the city's mean streets.

Celebrating Launch of 'Catalpa Expedition'

New York University's Glucksman Ireland House will host the launch of John Devoy's "Catalpa Expedition," drawn from Devoy's records and the rescue ship's log. The project was brought to fruition by book editors Philip Fennell and Marie King, and includes an introduction by Terry Golway. RSVP requested for the launch, set for Thursday, May 4, at 7 p.m.

Black 47 and Celtic Poets Live

On Friday at 9 p.m., CUNY's Graduate Center hosts Black 47 and Poets from Ireland, Scotland and Wales, in a performance at the Bowery Poetry Club. Cost is $15.00 For information call (212) 817-8215.

-- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor

RELATED RESOURCES:
* A Tribute to Father Mychal Judge (WGT)
* The Irish and 9/11 (WGT's Archives)
* 'Saint of 9/11' (Digital Spy)
* 'Empire Rising' Author Explores 'High Noon' for City's Irish (WGT)
* Buy 'Empire Rising' on Amazon.com
* 'Irish Rebel: John Devoy and America's Fight for Ireland's Freedom' (WGT Review)

Malachy McAllister Appeal Effort Gains Urgency

Dan Callaghan, from the McAllister Family Justice Campaign, asks that Hell's Kitchen readers contact government officials ASAP to plead the case of New Jersey resident Malachy McAllister and his four children, who are in imminent danger of being deported from the United States.

Above, Bernadette and Malachy McAllister with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (center), D-N.Y. McAllisterCampaign.com Photo

We met Malachy on April 12, during a lecture on the Easter Rising at NYU, part of a series sponsored by the Irish Consulate in New York. As incongruous as it seemed to have a former volunteer in the Irish National Liberation Army at an event sponsored by the Irish government, it also highlights Malachy's transformation. He served three years in a Northern Ireland prison, emerging in 1985, convicted for his role as a lookout in a 1981 INLA attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary officer. He now is an avowed supporter of the Good Friday Agreement.

Malachy and his family fled to Canada in 1988, after masked gunmen fired 26 shots into the family's Belfast home. They moved to the United States in 1996, where they have lived illegally but peaceably ever since, overstaying their tourist visa. Tragically, Malachy's wife, Bernadette, died in May 2004, at age 46, of breast cancer. Malachy, who owns his own construction business, has a legion of friends and admirers in his New Jersey neighborhood and beyond.

A host of prominent leaders in the Irish-American community, along with many others angered by the unfairness of his plight, are working to convince the U.S. government to allow Malachy and his children to remain. We support that effort, and urge you to send prayers their way and read on for other important actions you can take on Malachy's behalf.

ACTION REQUEST: Time for the McAllisters is running out!!!
1.) Call government officials and ask them to send individual letters IMMEDIATELY in support of the McAllister family to Michael Chertoff of Homeland Security asking for “Deferred Action Status.” If offices have any questions or need a case update refer them to Deanna Turner at Tel. #347-448-6160.
Find your congressman/woman by zip code
Find your senator and their phone number

2.) Contact the original signers of the McAllister joint letter in Congress (at bottom of e-mail), thank them for their support and ask them to send an individual letter to Chertoff, ASAP. The sample letter and Chertoff’s address can be found at:
3.) Contact Deanna Turner with any results that you receive from your efforts. We will keep a list of who has been contacted and individual letters sent so that we don’t duplicate our efforts. Email: editor@iauc.org Phone: 347-448-6160

Thank you for your continued support! It is greatly needed at this crucial time. Please don’t delay!! Make those phone calls - it can make a world of difference for the McAllisters!
- McAllister Family Justice Campaign

Rep. Peter King’s April 12, 2006 request to Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security requesting that he use his discretion to permit the McAllister’s to stay in the U.S.: Click here to read Judge Barry’s opinion

Click here to view McAllister Campaign website visit
ORIGINAL SIGNERS TO JOINT LETTER IN CONGRESS: (contact the following & ask that they now send individual letters to Chertoff ASAP)


Robert G. Torricelli (former U.S. Senator from N.J.)
United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510-3003

Senator Robert Menendez
(former Congressman from N.J.) Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel. (202) 224-4744

Congressman Peter King
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-7896

Congressman Steven Rothman
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-5061

Congressman Gary Ackerman
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-2601

Congressman Robert Borski
(Former)
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515

Congressman Nick J. Rahall
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-3452

Congressman James Walsh
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-3701

Congresswoman Nita Lowey
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-6606

Congressman Maurice Hinchey
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-6335

Congressman Rick Lazo
(Former)
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515

Congresswoman Marge Roukerna
(Former)
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515

Congresswoman Pat Danner
(Former)
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515

Congressman Eliot L. Engel
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-2464

Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-3615

Congressman Christopher Smith
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-3765

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-7944

Congressman Martin Meehan
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-3411

Congressman John McHugh
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-4611

Congressman William Coyne
(Former)
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515

Congressman Jim McDermott
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-3106

Congressman Richard Neal
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-5601

Congressman Benjamin Gilman (Former)
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515

Congressman Joseph Crowley
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-3965

Congressman John Tierney
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-8020

Congressman Michael Doyle
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-2135

Congressman Robert Brady
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-4731

Congressman Jack Quinn
(Former)
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515

Congressman John J. Moakley
(Former)
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515.:

Congressman Ciro Rodriguez
(Former)
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515

Congressman Rod Blagojevich
(Former)
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-3816

Congressman James McGovern
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-6101

Congressman Frank Pallone
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-4671

Congressman Anthony Weiner
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-6616

Congressman Michael McNulty
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-5076

Congressman Donald Payne
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-3436

Congressman James Moran
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-4376

Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-2361

Congressman Sue Kelly
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-5441

Congressman Michael Capuano
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-5111

Congressman William Delahunt
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-3111

Congressman Tim Holden
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-5546

Congressman Steven LaTourette
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-5731

Congressman Phil English
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-5406

Congressman William Pascrell
Congress of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel.: (202) 225-5751
Joan M. Quigley
Assemblywoman, 32nd District
New Jersey General Assembly
574 Summit Avenue, Suite 403
Jersey City, N.J. 07306
Tel.: (201) 217-4614
Joseph V. Doria, Jr.
Assembly Democratic Leader
New Jersey General Assembly
235 Broadway
Bayonne, N.J. 07002
Tel.: (201) 437-5150
Alan G. Hevesi
Former Comptroller of NYC

Presently:

New York State Comptroller
Comptroller's Office
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12236
Tel.: (518) 474-4044

Leonard P. Kiczek
Mayor, City of Bayonne
630 Avenue C
Bayonne, N.J. 07002-3898
Tel.: (201) 858-6010

Kathryn E. Freed
Council Member, 1st District
(Former)
51 Chambers Street
Room 429
New York, N.Y. 10007
Tel.: (212) 788-7722

NYC Council Members:
Freed, Eisland, Marchall, Michels,
Cruz, McCaffrey, Quinn, Rivera
and Sabini
c/o Christine Quinn, Speaker
City Hall
One Centre Street
New York, N.Y. 10007
Tel.: (212) 788-7210

Peter Vallone
(Former) Speaker
The Council of the City of New York
New York, N.Y. 10007
Tel.: (212) 788-7210

Rising Lectures Draw Hundreds in New York

NEW YORK -- Calling 1916 "an iconic year in history," Consul General Tim O'Connor (seen left) welcomed participants to Pace University for the first of three presentation to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. The occasion may fairly be considered the launch of a 10-year build to the Irish government's commemoration of the centennial of the Easter Rising here in the heartland of the Irish diaspora. On behalf of the government of Ireland, O'Connor said that the rising was a source of pride for Irish people worldwide.

In a collaboration between the Irish Consulate, the American Irish Historical Society, and the three hosting universities, the first lecture, titled "The Impact of the 1916 Rising on the Evolution of Modern Ireland and the Peace Process" was given April 10 by Dr. Martin Mansergh, a senator in the Dail (Irish legislature) for Fianna Fail. Dr. Mansergh provided the historical context of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, saying the ideals of the Rising very much informed the GFA, i.e., cherishing all the traditions in Ireland today, providing equal rights under the law, and respecting the aspirations of the people of all parts of the island.

The lecture was attended by many, drawing particularly well among academics within Irish studies. Dr. Christopher Cahill of Pace welcomed the audience, noting the other commemorations at Fordham University and New York University.

Rev. Patrick Sullivan, C.S.C, chaplain of the National Ancient Order of Hibernians, left, with Ned McGinley, National AOH President, enjoying Sen. Mansergh's presentation.

On Wednesday, April 12, Dr. Joseph Lee, director of New York University's Glucksman Ireland House, spoke to a standing-room only crowd of about 200 at NYU's Silver Hall, with a remote TV set up in an adjacent room for the overflow crowd. His topic was “The 1916 Easter Rising in Irish History.” Kerry-born Lee, the author of "Ireland 1912-1985: Politics and Society" and "The Modernization of the Irish Society 1848-1928," presented a historian's take on the Rising, from the remove of 90 years. He praised the leaders of the rising as people of "extraordinary bravery," and vision as well.

In the photo below, Dr. Christopher Cahill with Dr. Maureen Murphy of Hofstra University and Bill Cobert, director of the American Irish Historical Society. Murphy chaired the April 11 panel at Fordham University.

Lee broached the rising's symbolism of Ireland's blood sacrifice and ultimate resurrection. He pointed to one particularly notable precedent for the metaphor, reciting from Walt Whitman's volume "Leaves of Grass," the poem, "Old Ireland."

Whitman, who died in 1892, wrote, in part:

Far hence, amid an isle of wondrous beauty,
Crouching over a grave, an ancient, sorrowful mother,
Once a queen—now lean and tatter’d, seated on the ground,
Her old white hair drooping dishevel’d round her shoulders;
At her feet fallen an unused royal harp,
Long silent—she too long silent—mourning her shrouded hope and heir;
Of all the earth her heart most full of sorrow, because most full of love.

Lee drew particular attention to Whitman's phrase "At her feet fallen an unused royal harp," but the whole poem supports his point. Lee is also co-editor of the new book "Making the Irish American: History and Heritage of the Irish in the United States," recently published by NYU Press.
-- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano and Gerry Regan

Dublin, Easter Monday, April 24, 1916

And I say to my people's masters: Beware,
Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people,
Who shall take what ye would not give. Did ye think to conquer the people,
Or that Law is stronger than life and than men's desire to be free?
We will try it out with you, ye that have harried and held,
Ye that have bullied and bribed . . . tyrants, hypocrites, liars!

--From "The Rebel" by Patrick Pearse

Left to right, Easter Rising leaders Padraic Pearse, James Connolly, and Tom Clarke.


On April 24, 1916, Easter Monday, 1,700 men, and not a few women, set out from their homes, businesses, and farms "to take what (the British) would not give," in the words of Patrick Pearse, that is, control of Ireland to the Irish people. This was destined to be another in a long string of failed efforts to wrest that control from Britain, Ireland's overseer, spanning centuries. But there was something different about this bid, which the poet William Butler Yeats perhaps best conveyed in his poem "Easter 1916." Yeats wrote, in part:

Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse --
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

Their five days of dogged resistance brought desolation to much of Dublin, pitting men and women armored with a dream against one of the world's best-equipped armies. Yet, as Yeats depicts, the executions of the Rising's leaders jolted many in Ireland. With the deaths of MacDonagh, MacBride, Connolly, Pearse and the others, it became clear: These men may have been foolhardy, but their stalwart resistance became a point of pride, a point of unity. The Irish came to embrace these men, flaws and all. They became the stuff of legend, while the British army was increasingly seen as a brutal, hostile, foreign force.

John Dillon, a leading member of John Redmond's Irish Parliamentary Party, saw the parliamentary party's efforts to gain home rule coming undone, saying the government seemed intent on "manufacturing Sinn Feiners." He could not hold in check his indignation at the ineptness of the tactic of executions. Spurning caution, speaking in Parliament, he praised the insurgents for fighting bravely and chivalrously, adding "it would have been a damn good thing for you if your soldiers were able to put up as good a fight as did these men in Dublin."

Read our story of the Easter Rising: Dublin, Easter Monday, 1916: 1,700 Take On the British Empire and follow the events of that eventful week on our Dates page.

To commemorate this event and honor the men and women who rose up in 1916, WGT introduces its “Heroes of the Easter Rising” products. To the left is an example of one of the graphics, which use the famous proclamation issued that day as the background.

Read more about the Easter Rising:

* The Hero who Was Written Out of Ireland's History (Irish Independent)

* Brothers in Arms (The Irish Echo)

Beckett Devotees Mark the Maestro's 100th

NEW YORK -- Happy 100th Birthday, Samuel Beckett!

Celebrations will take place this week for the 100th birthday of Ireland's third Nobel Laureate in Literature, Samuel Beckett (seen left).

Beckett's name is synonymous with his 1952 absurdist drama, Waiting for Godot, in which two tramps wait for the arrival of the mysterious Godot. He also wrote Endgame, Happy Days, Krapp's Last Tape, and the trilogy of novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnameable. A poet and short story writer as well, Beckett's career spanned nearly six decades, punctuated by the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. Often called the last modernist, Beckett used his work to explore the meaning of existence, especially for the downtrodden.

Beckett worked with James Joyce, wrote in French and English, and lived in Paris as an expatriate Irishman. He won the Croix de Guerre for his work with the French Resistance during World War II. He was born in in the Dublin suburb of Foxrock on April 13, 1906, and died in France on December 22, 1989).

Festivals and readings are taking place all over the world, including Tokyo, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Krakow, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh. Princeton University is celebrating Friday (http://www.princeton.edu/~visarts/Beckett.htm), and the Two Rivers Theatre Company in Red Bank, New Jersey, has a Beckett festival underway(http://www.trtc.org/pages/3about/press%20releases/BeckettFestPR.html)

More information can be found at http://samuel-beckett.net/

-- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor

'Bloody Sunday' Director Takes On 9/11 Story

In his latest film, writer and director Paul Greengrass, who directed the widely heralded film “Bloody Sunday,” has taken on the retelling of part of the story of 9/11. His new film, “United 93” presents the story of Flight 93 to viewers in real time, and comes to theaters around the United States on April 28.

There is no question that the story of that flight is compelling. Last year, the official 9/11 Commission report stated that the hijackers crashed the plane in a field near Shanksville, in rural western Pennsylvania, as passengers tried to wrest control of the cockpit. The passengers had learned from mobile phone conversations that hijackers had earlier crashed jets into both towers of the World Trade Center, and clearly reckoned the grim possibilities ahead. Many speculate that Flight 93's hijackers planned to attack a target in Washington, perhaps the White House or the Capital.

As dramatic as this story is, there are some, especially in the New York area, who think it too soon to portray these events. The Long Island-based newspaper Newsday reported that the AMC Loews Theater on Manhattan's Upper West Side pulled the trailer from its screening after receiving several complaints, including one from a woman who was brought to tears.

Others disagree, however, and feel it time to dramatize the story of the final hours of the doomed passengers and crew and bring it to mass audiences, the better to honor them, and understand their struggle and the dangers that we still face from terrorists. Among the film's supporters are the families of the victims. Greengrass obtained the approval of the families of all 40 of the victims who died on Flight 93, and many of them were interviewed to help with the production. Universal Pictures, the film's distributor, will donate 10 percent of the first three days' grosses to a fund to build a memorial for those slain in the hijacking.

Coming in late summer is Oliver Stone’s film, titled "World Trade Center," which centers on the firefighters who responded to the 9/11 attacks. It stars Nicholas Cage. -- Joseph E. Gannon

RELATED RESOURCES:

o The Official "United 93" Film Web Site
o International Movie Data Base on "United 93"
o Flight 93 National Memorial
o WGT's Reviews of Two "Bloody Sunday" Films
o A Dark Day Revisited
o Dreams and Myths: Hollywood and 9/11

Ireland's Literary Light Dims

"Each of us has a private world, and the only difference between the reader and the writer is that the writer has the ability to describe and dramatize that private world. As a writer, I write to see. If I knew how it would end, I wouldn't write. It's a process of discovery."

Rest in peace, John McGahern.

Author Joseph O'Connor Captivates at NYU

NEW YORK -- Joseph O'Connor read from his latest novel Redemption at New York University's Glucksman Ireland House Thursday evening. John Waters, professor of English at NYU, introduced the Dublin-born author of Star of the Sea, and imentioned that Redemption is the second book in a trilogy.

O'Connor (left, in a pic at the event by Patricia Jameson-Sammartano) began the evening with an epic account of a book tour for one of his previous works, Desperadoes. We have never seen so many academics laughing so hard at a reading.

O'Connor then introduced Redemption, describing it as a story of the American Civil War. The book is titled after a town in Montana, and the story features multiple characters with Irish and Irish-American connections to the Civil War. While there are four or five main characters, James "Con" O'Keefe, inspired by Irish Brigade commander Thomas Francis Meagher, was featured in the reading. O'Connor is an enthralling reader, one who exudes grace, charm and humor, for example, stating: "Who among us would not rather be making love than reading? What is reading for, if not to help us make love?"

We eagerly await publication of this book; the poetics of O'Connor's prose are vivid, and the characters introduced to us in Star of the Sea deserve continued adventure. During the question-and-answer period, O'Connor said he respected the truth enough to tell the story of "The Fighting 69th" in a fictionalized version; the story will use a similar approach to that of "Star of the Sea," using newspapers, ballads and letters; the stories of the Civil War are an interesting part of the story of Irish assimilation.

Asked how important it was to be in New York City while writing a book like this one, O'Connor said that it was important because near his residence in lower Manhattan he was living amid reminders of that era all the time, living close by Old St. Patrick's Cathedral (built by Irish immigrants in 1809). O'Connor also said that in Manhattan, among the tides of refugees, he found himself constantly reminded of the reality of all wars, as well as racism.

At evening's end, O'Connor disclosed the news that Irish author John McGahern had died in hospital in Dublin earlier that day.

-- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor